TOP PICKS

Merike Estna: Ocean

Tartu Art House, Tartu
10 October – 9 November
@kunstimaja

At the core of the exhibition lies the existential coexistence of life and death, as seen through the perspective of motherhood. Alongside oceanic happiness and love, pain and loss are equally present, themes that are often brushed aside when talking about birth and motherhood but are very much present regardless. This is Merike Estna’s last larger project before her exhibition at the Estonian Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia.

On Fragile Grounds. Sirje Runge and Light

Kai Art Center
11 October 2025 – 22 February 2026
@kaiartcenter

A major solo exhibition that spans five decades of work by Sirje Runge, one of the central figures of Estonian postwar art. The exhibition traces Runge’s lifelong exploration of light, colour and perception from her geometric experiments of the 1970s to recent large-scale projects, and reconstructs her pioneering teaching practice. The exhibition is curated by Mėta Valiušaitytė. The exhibition is part of the main programme of Tallinn Photomonth 2025 contemporary art biennial.

Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters Between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter

Kumu Art Museum
24 October 2025 – 12 April 2026
@kumukunstimuuseum

This is an ambitious collaboration between the Art Museum of Estonia and the Dresden State Art Collections, taking the viewer on a journey through Estonian and German art and history. While reflecting the complexity of those relations and issues of colonial power and mentality, the exhibition also highlights the cultural intertwining of German, Baltic-German and Estonian art. From May to August the exhibition was open at the Kunsthalle im Lipsiusbaus in Dresden, and from 24 October in the Great Hall of Kumu.

Anna-Stina Treumund: How to recognise a lesbian?

Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
5 September 2025 – 4 January 2026
@kumukunstimuuseum

This exhibition presents an overview of the works of Anna-Stina Treumund (1982–2017), who was the first in Estonia to openly identify as a lesbian artist. In the exhibition, Treumund’s works are in dialogue with works by artists who have influenced her (Marju Mutsu and Kai Kaljo), as well as with young artists who are continuing the queer feminist exploration in contemporary art (Janina Sabaliauskaitė from Lithuania, and Elo Vahtrik and Maria Izabella Lehtsaar from Estonia).

Jaanus Samma. Still Lifes on National Motifs. 2025

RECOMMENDED

The group exhibition of the Young Contemporary Art Association. Photo by Elo Vahtrik

Maria Kapajeva: By Losing Them, I Become a Whole

Kogo Gallery, Tartu
3 October – 22 November
@kogogallery

In her solo exhibition, Maria Kapajeva draws on her recent physical transformation and ongoing healing process to explore identity politics, womanhood and queer embodiment. It marks the first chapter of a new body of work – one that begins in loss but unfolds through tenderness, resilience and radical self-connection. The exhibition is curated by Šelda Puķīte.

Under Pressure explores societal norms

Tallinn Art Hall Lasnamäe Pavilion, Tallinn
13 September – 23 November
@tallinnarthall

Under Pressure explores how societal norms and expectations shape human life, health and identity, revealing both visible and hidden tensions. The paintings, sculptures, photographs, and videos displayed in the clockwise display within the pink circle of the Art Hall building in Lasnamäe address power, mental health, neurodiversity, gender roles, and family. The curator of the exhibition is Siim Preiman.

International group show compose◠decompose

EKA gallery
31 October – 23 November
@eka.galerii

compose◠decompose submerges deep into a cyclical narrative of growth, decay, and renewal.
The exhibition brings to light the hidden and often overlooked elements of our ecosystem – microscopic creatures, plant matter and organic systems that thrive beneath the surface of our mundane. The participating artists work in various ways to either mimic or closely collaborate with the processes of the natural world. The exhibition is curated by artists Inessa Saarits and Victoria Björk.

Young contemporary art takes over EKKM

EKKM
15 November – 14 December
@ekkmtallinn

Together is warmer is a show by the Estonian Young Contemporary Art Association where 31 artists explore working and being together. The Association was founded in 2022 with the aim of gathering together young artists by constantly changing and reinventing itself. They have a humorous approach which celebrates working collectively.

Tõnis Saadoja: Present Continuous

Tütar Gallery
24 October – 7 December
@tutar.gallery

This exhibition continues the theme of light and time while also making a decisive experimental turn. This series was painted en plein air, directly from nature under the open sky, each work constrained by the shifting natural light within a few hours.

Alexei Gordin: This Land is Your Land

Tallinn City Gallery, Tallinn
4 October 2025 – 11 January 2026
@tallinnarthall

Alexei Gordin’s self-fashioned, forthrightly stated artist persona is grounded above all in his painting – a practice steeped in a grotesque, tongue-in-cheek critique. The exhibition presents a selection of his numerous social media posts, where phone snapshots and video clips open onto worlds filled with harmony, beauty and balance. The exhibition is curated by Tamara Luuk.

Jüri Kask: Blink of an Eye

Tartu Art Museum
1 November 2025 – 26 April 2026
@tartmus

Jüri Kask is known for his large format works and love of colour, and stylistically he is considered to be one of the most consistent painters of geometric abstractionism in Estonia. Extending along two levels, the exhibition will take over the floors, walls and ceiling and, as usual for Kask, it will break boundaries. The show is curated by Brita Karin Arnover.

Quistrebert Brothers and Sirja-Liisa Eelma: ZOOM

Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn
16 October 2025 – 17 January 2026
@temnikovakasela

During the last two decades, the French artist duo Quistrebert brothers (Florian and Michael Quistrebert) have been reinventing the abstract painting, using a wide range of techniques, from raw oil paint, industrial car paint, modelling paste and epoxy, among others. Sirja-Liisa Eelma is a conceptual painter whose visual language is characterised by visually minimalistic structures. In her artwork, Eelma focuses on the themes of emptiness, silence, absence of meaning, experiencing pause and defining the visible and the invisible.

Mari Kurismaa: Twilight Geometry

Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
26 September 2025 – 22 February 2026

Having graduated in 1979 as a furniture and interior designer, Mari Kurismaa’s oeuvre brings together several strands of 20th-century European art: conceptualism, surrealism and metaphysical painting, with references to antiquity and postmodern architectural thought. On view are her legendary paintings – long established as classics of Estonian art – alongside early experimental works, architectural drawings, as well as tapestry and costume designs, several of which are being exhibited for the first time. The show is curated by Mari Laanemets.

Mari Kurismaa **Still Life with Black and a White Sphere**. 1986

BEYOND

Near East, Far West – Kyiv Biennial 2025

Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
3 October 2025 – 18 January 2026
@msnwarszawa

The exhibition takes place in a time of ongoing wars, occupations, ethnic cleansing, and genocide, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel’s brutal operation in Gaza, and the broader fascist turn in global politics. The title Near East, Far West points to the current geopolitical reality and calls for a reorientation of the notions of East and West. The main exhibition of the 6th Kyiv Biennial 2025 is organised by a consortium of curators from L’Internationale, a European confederation of museums, art institutions and universities.

Bells and Cannons. Contemporary Art in the Face of Militarisation

Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
16 October 2025 – 1 March 2026
@cacvilnius

The exhibition explores the complex relationship between war and culture, presenting different strategies used by contemporary artists in the face of militarisation. The international group exhibition is curated by Virginija Januškevičiūtė and Valentinas Klimašauskas and is part the project Aspects of Presence, a collaboration between the Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius, the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and the Goethe-Institut in Lithuania.

Jan Eustachy Wolski **Pelexiton (Excerpts 1 to 6**), 2024. **Bells and Cannons. Contemporary Art in the Face of Militarisation**. Photo by Andrej Vasilenko

Sarah Lucas: Naked Eye

Kiasma, Helsinki
10 October 2025 – 8 March 2026
@kiasmamuseum

This exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist Sarah Lucas at Kiasma offers a comprehensive overview of her career to date with sculpture, photography, and installations from the past four decades, including new and recent works, many of which have featured in celebrated exhibitions around the world. This marks Lucas’ first extensive solo presentation in the Nordic region.

For All At Last Return

Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
8 November 2025 – 7 June 2026

The group exhibition with Katja Novitskova, Kristina Õllek and Emilija Škarnulyte from the Baltic countries explores marine ecosystems, the deep sea, coral reefs, ocean currents, intertidal and hypoxic zones, and how human activities affect marine life. Working at the intersection of art and ecology, many of the artists in the exhibition have collaborated with marine biologists and oceanographers to raise awareness of the local, regional and global issues that threaten marine ecosystems, and to foster dialogue across disciplines.

Kristina Õllek **Breathing Deep Currency**, 2025

Joonas Pulkkinen Joonas Pulkkinen is a Finnish freelance art worker, curator, critic and journalist. He has a long-standing interest in the contemporaneity and politics of contemporary art biennials and in questions of subjectivity within art practices.

Joonas Pulkkinen

Joonas Pulkkinen is a Finnish freelance art worker, curator, critic and journalist. He has a long-standing interest in the contemporaneity and politics of contemporary art biennials and in questions of subjectivity within art practices.